Tracy raises more than $436,000 in campaign to oust DesJarlais

Tracy raises more than $436,000 in campaign to oust DesJarlais

NASHVILLE - Republican state Sen. Jim Tracy's congressional campaign says the Shelbyville lawmaker raised nearly $436,485 during the first quarter in his bid to oust "scandal-ridden" U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., in the 2014 primary.

Tracy has raised more than twice the $205,000 that state Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, said last week his exploratory committee has amassed.

And Tracy said he still has $400,000 in cash on hand after expenses.

Tracy's finance chairman, Shane Reeves, said in a news release today the senator's "robust fundraising totals coupled with his strong grass-roots organization put him in the best position to defeat the scandal-ridden incumbent."

DesJarlais, a Jasper physician, has been targeted by Tennessee Republicans. Court records showed the congressman, who has touted his anti-abortion views, encouraged a patient with whom he had an affair to get an abortion in 2000. Further documents showed DesJarlais supported his ex-wife's two abortions in the 1990s.

Campaign finance reports for the Jan. 1-March 30 period are due Monday to the Federal Election Commission.

DesJarlais last month held a major fundraiser in Washington. He has yet to release his first-quarter report.

But Tracy's campaign noted the senator's first-quarter figures far exceed the $68,000 DesJarlais reported in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Reeves said Tracy's figures "speak volumes."

"The citizens of the 4th Congressional District want a conservative in word and deed. A person with high morals and good character, someone that they can trust to vote the right way and do the right thing," he said in the news release.